Maritime Security • Maritime

MAKING WAVES A maritime news brief covering: MARITIME SECURITY MARITIME FORCES SHIPPING, PORTS AND OCEAN ECONOMY MARINE ENVIRONMENT GEOPOLITICS Making Waves 18 - 24 Jan 2021 CONTENTS MARITIME SECURITY ................................................................................ 3 WITH P8I AIRCRAFT, NAVY TAKES PART IN QUAD ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE EXERCISE IN GUAM ..................................................... 3 SATELLITE CATCHES CHINESE SURVEY SHIP MAPPING SEABED IN EASTERN INDIAN OCEAN ........................................................... 4 CHINA AUTHORISES COAST GUARD TO FIRE ON FOREIGN VESSELS ..... 5 FRONTEX AND EUNAVFOR SIGN MARITIME SECURITY COOPERATION AGREEMENT ....................................................... 6 ASIA PIRACY INCIDENTS HIT 5-YEAR HIGH IN 2020, SHIPPING INSURANCE RATES FIRM ............................................................ 7 DOES SOMALI PIRACY HOLD SECURITY LESSONS FOR THE GULF OF GUINEA? ................................................................................ 8 MARITIME FORCES ................................................................................... 10 MARINE CORPS TO STAND UP FIRST MARINE LITTORAL REGIMENT IN FY 2022 ...............................................................................10 JAPAN DEMOS RAYTHEON MARITIME SECURITY RADAR, SENSOR ABOARD GA-ASI SEAGUARDIAN AIRCRAFT ................................ 11 US AND SAUDI ARABIAN NAVIES BEGIN MARITIME EXERCISE NAVAL DEFENDER 21 ......................................................................... 12 USNS TRENTON, TUNISIAN NAVY EXERCISE MARITIME SECURITY CAPABILITIES ......................................................................... 12 ROLLS-ROYCE WINS US NAVY RESEARCH CONTRACT FOR FOD DETECTION TECHNOLOGY ......................................................... 13 THE NAVY'S LITTORAL COMBAT SHIPS ARE A SLOW, BROKEN MESS ............................................................................................ 14 IRAN CAUGHT ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST POWERFUL MISSILE SUBS UNDERWATER ........................................................................ 14 SHIPPING, PORTS AND OCEAN ECONOMY ......................................... 16 37% OF ALL BOXES ARE ROLLED OVER ......................................... 16 WORLD’S BIGGEST SHIPPING LINE DEMANDS ACTION AGAINST PIRACY SURGE OFF WEST AFRICA ............................................. 17 MARSHALLS FISHERIES HIRES ONE OF THE PACIFIC'S TOP FISHERIES EXPERTS ................................................................................ 19 1 Making Waves 18 - 24 Jan 2021 MARINE ENVIRONMENT ......................................................................... 21 OVER 90 PC OF HUMAN-MADE WARMING IS ABSORBED BY OCEANS, RECORD HIGH TEMPS WITNESSED IN 2020: STUDY ................................................................................. 21 ANOTHER LIFE: IRELAND’S SALTMARSHES COULD VANISH AS SEA LEVEL RISES ........................................................................... 21 ANTARCTIC: OCEAN'S COLD AT THE SURFACE, BUT SCORCHING DEEP DOWN .................................................................................. 23 DEADLIEST CATCH: THAILAND'S 'GHOST' FISHING NETS HELP COVID FIGHT ................................................................................... 24 GEOPOLITICS ............................................................................................. 26 THE INDIAN OCEAN AS A REGION OF FUTURE CONTESTATION ....... 26 SINGAPORE JOINS INDIA AS INDO-PACIFIC PARTNER .................... 29 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... 31 2 Making Waves 18 - 24 Jan 2021 MARITIME SECURITY WITH P8I AIRCRAFT, NAVY TAKES PART IN QUAD ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE EXERCISE IN GUAM - Amrita Nayak Dutta New Delhi: The Indian Navy is participating in a multinational anti-submarine warfare exercise with the ‘Quad’ countries, along with Canada, which began in Guam in Western Pacific earlier this month. The exercise, titled Sea Dragon 2021, is taking place nearly two months after the conclusion of Exercise Malabar involving the Quad countries — India, Japan, the US and Australia. The Navy has deployed one anti- submarine warfare aircraft, the P8I, for the exercise, which is set to continue till 28 January. The exercise involves drills aimed at tracking submarines. Naval Base Guam is a strategic US naval base located on Apra Harbor. Defence officials told ThePrint the Navy’s participation bears testimony to the level of interoperability achieved by the force enabling it to take part in exercises across the globe. Sea Dragon 2021 centres on anti-submarine warfare training and excellence to include 125 hours of in-flight training — ranging from tracking simulated targets to the final problem of finding and tracking USS Chicago, a US Navy Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine. During training sessions, pilots and flight officers from all countries will build plans and discuss incorporating tactics, capabilities and equipment for their respective nations into the exercise. Along with the US, the Royal Australian Air Force, Canadian Air Force, Indian Navy, and Japan Maritime Self- Defense Force are participating. ‘Navy to get acclimated with Guam’ Vice-Admiral Anup Singh (retired), former commander-in-chief of the Eastern Naval Command, told ThePrint that participating in a high-level exercise with an anti- submarine focus makes a lot of sense in today’s day and age, particularly in the current geopolitical scenario. “Guam is one of the largest US naval bases, and the region is of great interest to us. Exercising there with the US will help the Navy to acclimatise with the area, thus adding to the confidence. There is also a lot of global interest in that part of the pacific,” he said. The Navy veteran further said that what adds to the experience is exercising with contemporary systems like the P8I, which is a modern aircraft that also has a great amount of maritime reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities. “Very few platforms today have these detection systems against submarines,” he added. 3 Making Waves 18 - 24 Jan 2021 India’s other global exercises India has remained tight-lipped about the exercise, while the US has been giving out information about its participation. In November, India concluded the 24th edition of joint maritime ‘Exercise Malabar 2020’, which saw Australia’s participation for the first time in 13 years, along with the US and Japan. The Malabar series of exercises had begun as an annual bilateral naval exercise between India and the US in 1992. In the past few years, the annual maritime exercise has been conducted off the coast of Guam in the Philippine Sea in 2018 and the coast of Japan in 2019. The Indian and the French air forces are also carrying out a five-day bilateral air exercise, Exercise Desert Knight-21, which began on 20 January that will include aircraft such as Rafales, Mirage 2000s, Sukhoi-30s, mid-air refuellers, and airborne warning and control system platforms. Source: The Print; 22 January 2021 SATELLITE CATCHES CHINESE SURVEY SHIP MAPPING SEABED IN EASTERN INDIAN OCEAN - Snehesh Alex Philip New Delhi: A Chinese government survey ship, the Xiang Yang Hong 03, is currently operating in the Indian Ocean and carrying out a search pattern west of Sumatra, the latest satellite and open source intelligence (OSINT) has revealed. This same vessel was last week accused of ‘running dark’, i.e., operating without broadcasting its position, in Indonesian territorial waters. China’s Xiang Yang Hong survey ships are suspected of operating underwater gliders in the Indian Ocean to map the sea bed. “The suspicion is that, as well as conducting civilian research, these ships may be gathering information for naval planners — currents, bathymetry, salinity of the water — which are all relevant to submarine warfare,” H.I. Sutton, defence and OSINT analyst told ThePrint. He added that hydrographic data is civilian-defence agnostic, which means that it can be used for both civilian and military purposes. “The eastern Indian Ocean is likely to be of particular interest to the Chinese Navy as they expand their submarine capabilities. The data from these surveys may help submarines navigate, or improve their chances of remaining undetected,” Sutton said. What China could be up to In an article published on NavalNews, Sutton wrote that some of the survey activities, nearer to Indonesia and the Andaman and Nicobar islands, could relate to finding the US Navy’s reputed ‘fish hook’ sensor networks. “These are designed to track Chinese submarines entering the Indian Ocean. Naturally this cannot be confirmed,” he said. ThePrint in November 2020 reported that two Chinese research and survey vessels in Sri Lankan waters had caught the attention of the Indian Navy, which sees them as possibly being part of a larger ploy to gather data. A note prepared by the defence establishment at the time said that survey and research vessels primarily gather data 4 Making Waves 18 - 24 Jan 2021 vital for conduct of naval operations, especially that of submarines. “Such unencumbered and suspicious activity within Sri Lankan waters will surely raise the hackles of other nations in the region and also has the potential to upset the delicate maritime balance in the IOR,” the note had said. Sutton said that four of the Xiang Yang Hong (‘Facing the Red Sun’) research ships have been particularly active over the past two years — Xiang Yang Hong 01, 03, 06 and 19. “The ships

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